My Retreat to Forks
by mimirudesu
Summary: AU: After the war a magically and spiritually exhausted Draco retreats to Forks, Washington and reunites with his godmother to relax and recover. He begins attending a muggle school where surprises await him. Rating may go up. PLZ RNR!
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: Unless otherwise stated I own nothing.

A/N: This is an AU set in the late 90s not the mid to late 00s. I'm adhereing to the Harry Potter time frame not Twilight's. However students start at Hogwarts a year earlier than in canon. I need to have our dear wizard go to high-scool so he has to be seventeen. The only way was to adjust when students start going to Hogwarts. In canon students are turning 18 during and after the final year with my adjustment they're turning 17. It is the first quarter/Spring of 1998.

Chapter 00:

Draco drove through the snow covered streets of the small town of Forks, Washington to its outskirts where a certain ranch style house was located.

He parked his blue '97 Chevy Malibu outside the detached three car garage and walked his way up the main path of the stone driveway dividing the four gardens (one for small fruit trees, one for flowers, one for herbs, and one for vegetables) to the wrap around porch with potted plants at its corners and some wicker furniture pieces in the front and back.

He knocked on a door three times and waited. A few minutes passed before the door was opened by a tall middle aged woman with pale skin, black hair, and hazel eyes. Her name? Clarice Monet Ray. She was a muggleborn witch who'd gone to an all girls Institute of Magic in Paris, France. She was also his godmother.

She'd been his godfather Severus Snape's wife from 1980-1985. The two divorced because his job was getting in the way of their time together and a mutual agreement that they had fallen out of love with each other. They had remained friends though and been great godparents to him, neither willing to let any lingering regrets or suppressed grudges get in the way of doing their part to raise him.

Draco was not at all surprised when she pulled him into a fierce almost bone crushing hug. He had spent the month of July with her each summer from 1988-1994 at her London flat. In January 1995 she had moved abroad to Yonkers, New York where she opened a restaurant.

He had lost contact with her some time after that relocation. Mainly because of the war. When Voldemort had made Malfoy Manor his headquarters it had become highly dangerous to send mail.

When the war ended in May 1997 Draco had gotten her new address from his godfather and proceeded to write her a long letter about what had happened since they'd lost contact with a request to move in with her for a while.

Not only did he miss her greatly, he was also magically and spiritually exhausted from his war efforts (being a spy for the light was hard work, being their secret weapon was even worse) and needed an escape from the Wizarding World as a whole to relax and recover.

"I can't believe you're actually here. When I got your letter I was truly surprised. I figured you'd forgotten me." Clarice said, guiding him inside.

"Very funny. I couldn't send mail with a madman keeping tabs on me. I was already on thin ice since he found the second half of the prophecy and learned I could be his downfall if he couldn't recruit me." Draco remarked.

Draco removed his coat and the two of them sat down in the living room and talked for a while. She then gave him a tour of the house. It was peanut size in comparison to Malfoy Manor but it wasn't a bad size for a house of its kind. The layout was simple. A hall divided the rooms left to right.

The front door was on one end and the backdoor on the other. To the left was the living room which housed the informal dining room, the formal dining room, and the eat-in kitchen which sported porcelain countertops and black appliances.

The pantry was across from the kitchen. A personal library resided across from the formal dining room. A three piece washroom and an office resided side by side each other across from the living room housing the informal dining room. Next to the pantry was the laundry room. Across from it was the music room next to which was the art room. Two small bedrooms connected by a jack and jill washroom resided next to it while two master bedroom suites resided almost directly across from it.

The living room, the kitchen, the bedrooms, the music room, the art room, and the office all had sliding doors leading out onto the wrap around porch. The fenced-in backyard boasted very little grass. It instead favored gray-shaded stone flooring.

It contained a decent sized circular in-ground pool, and a few picnic tables. On each end there was a large tree. One with a tire swing dangling from it's strongest branch, the other with a fair sized tree house in its branches. The fence itself had a wooden door built into it that led to a woodland path via which First Beach, La Push was accessible.

Draco unpacked while his godmother made dinner. He was staying in one of the master suites. Like the house itself though it was peanut sized in comparison to the master suite in his personal wing of Malfoy Manor, but it was adequate for a temporary dwelling and it was his idea to come live with his godmother for a while so he had no right to complain. Still felt awkward though.

On one side was a closet about a tenth of the size he was used to. Next to it was the washroom. It was a full piece with a combined tub and shower. An armoire was in the corner lacking sliding doors to the wrap around porch.

Across from all this was a canopied double bed with curtains and lots of pillows. It had a night stand on each side flanked by five foot dressers. At the front of the bed was a decent sized ottoman. The top was removeable and revealed a deep storage space.

The room also had a ceiling fan in the center and some framed artwork hung on the wall with the door leading into the hall. The general color scheme was like the rest of the house neutral creams with pops of primary colors in small places.

He quickly filled the closet and stacked as many of his shoe boxes at the bottom of it as he could. Then he stored away as much of the muggle wardrobe he'd purchased in Seattle on his way to the house as possible into the other storage units. When he ran out of room he went into the washroom with what remained. Due to the type of window glass in it he was able to summon a house-elf without risk of anyone seeing. He ordered it to take it and store it out of sight in the deepest confines of his closet at Malfoy Manor.

He went to the kitchen to ask his godmother if he could hook up the PlayStation he purchased in the living room since there was no television in his own room.

"Sure thing Dragon, but don't start playing just yet. Dinner's just about ready. You can have your fun after you've had a proper meal." She said, her tone light and sweet, but firm.

"I'll be back in ten minutes." He said, knowing it was best to listen to her.

Besides, he had had nothing to eat since his flight over and his shopping spree in Seattle so he was actually really hungry. He went to the living room and followed the instruction manual in the console box to hook up the PlayStation.

After testing to make sure he'd done it right he turned the console off and went to join his godmother for dinner just as she was finishing setting the table for four that got a lot of natural light on the rare days when it was sunny since it was close to the sliding doors to the wrap around porch.

Laid out for him was a platter with four different plates and two glasses on it. One glass was filled with orange juice and the other with distilled water. On one of the plates was a helping of spaghetti with ground beef, broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots all covered in his godmother's special sauce. Another held a Caesar salad. The third was stacked with homemade cheesy garlic bread and the last held a slice of chocolate cake with whipped cream, strawberry syrup, and cherries.

As he ate Draco thought to himself not for the first time since he'd lost touch with his godmother how much he'd missed her. There were simply too many wonderful things about her for him not to miss her. Her cooking was just one of them.

After they had finished eating he helped her with the dishes something he knew would make the jaws of anyone who went to Hogwarts with him drop if they didn't simply faint at glimpsing it. She joined him in the living room and they spoke while he played Final Fantasy VII.

"So how exactly is your mother taking your father's imprisonment? And how is Severus these days?" She asked.

"Mother's handled herself pretty well actually. She has the right to visit once a month and even though they gave him ten years he can get out in five on good behavior and serve the rest through house arrest. She keeps herself busy with remodeling the manor and doing what she can for the families of war victims. She also seems to be planning to take up fashion designing." He replied, causing her to laugh.

"Narcissa never did let anything hold her down for long." She said, stifling it. "How's Severus?"

"He says he needs some alone time so he's begun planning a vacation trip to Guam." He answered.

"I've been telling him to take a vacation for years, but he always insisted he still had things to do. Promised me he'd make the one he did take a long one if he ever got around to it. Glad he has at least gotten started on it." She said.

"Yeah. I asked him once my third year at Hogwarts why he never takes time off for himself and he gave me a similar answer. I was surprised to see him jotting down things to do on his vacation when I went to ask for your address. I hope it's everything he hopes it'll be. He seemed really excited about it." He supplied in return.

"You should get to bed soon. You'll need to be up early since I'm taking you over to the local High School to take a placement exam. There's still time for you to enroll as a senior transfer." She said.

"Are you sure I have enough education in muggle subjects to attend a muggle school?" He asked.

"I'd like to think you learned more than enough from Severus and myself and your Muggle Studies classes at Hogwarts." She replied. "Besides, I don't want you lazing about here doing nothing but playing video games and piano all day. Going to High School will help you make friends."

"The sad part about what you've just said is that it actually sounds appealing. If anyone back home could observe me here they'd faint faster than a human being can blink." He said.

"Yes, knowing you there wasn't a soul around who thought you were actually human." She said with clear amusement. "I'm turning in for today. Don't stay up too late."

"Don't worry I won't." He assured. "Sleep well Mumsy."

"You too Dragon." She said, then kissed his forehead and ruffled his hair affectionately making him huff in disapproval. "Sweet dreams."

"You too." He said, returning his attention to his game as she walked away.

Draco called it quits at half past ten and was asleep by eleven. He was completely unaware he was being watched.

A/N: This is my first attempt at fanfiction since middle school. Please let me know if it's any good. I'll update as soon as I can.


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Go back one.

Chapter 01:

Draco woke up to the smell of hotcakes and sausage and the heavy pitter patter of iced rain. He got out of bed and stretched a bit before going into his washroom. He brushed his teeth, washed his hair, and took a short bubble bath (short for him anyway). While he was drying his hair his godmother came knocking on the door to the suite.

"Come on in it's open." He ushered, before returning to the task of drying his hair.

"Are you decent?" She asked, from the other side of the washroom door.

"Yeah, I've got a towel and bathrobe on." He said, putting down the hand-towel he was using to dry his hair and grabbing his hair brush.

"Did you sleep well?" Clarice inquired, opening the washroom door just enough to poke her head inside. "I made your favorites."

"I got some of the best sleep I'd had in a while." Draco replied smiling at her through the mirror of the washroom vanity while he brushed his hair.

"The smell of your cooking is part of what woke me up actually." He informed her.

"How did you sleep?" He asked, ducking down to look in the storage space beneath the vanity for a can of hairspray.

"I slept well Dragon and I'm glad you did too." She said.

"How many of those did you bring?" She asked, as he kept hovering his hand over different cans of hairspray clearly undecided.

"I was intending on twelve but there wasn't enough room so I sent six back home." He replied nonchalantly.

"That figures." Clarice supplied giggling amusedly.

"I'll be in the kitchen. Join me when you're ready." She said, and headed back to where she'd come from, letting the door to the washroom bang shut lightly behind her.

Draco finished his hair and applied some vaseline to his lips before heading out of the washroom and sifting through the closet for an outfit. He ended up selecting a silver trench coat, a black sweater, a white undershirt, and dark blue jeans, then retrieved a pair of black knee length socks from a drawer. He got dressed and slipped on some black leather boots with silver laces.

After wrapping a black scarf around his neck and stuffing some matching gloves into one of his pockets he grabbed his wallet and car keys and went to join his godmother for breakfast. They ate while she explained to him what the placement exam he was going to take would likely entail.

It was divided into three parts. The first was answering one hundred multiple chioce questions. The second was answering one hundred true or false questions. The third part was writing two short length essays and one full length one.

"It doesn't sound too bad." He said, after swallowing a piece of sausage.

"It shouldn't be. You'll have an hour and ten minutes for each part and a ten minute break between sessions." She explained.

"Sounds fair enough." Draco said.

Silence reigned thereafter until they'd finished their breakfasts. Clarice magicked the dirty dishes clean and everything to its proper place to save time and gave Draco his own set of house keys.

They left the house with umbrella's in hand as the rain had not let up a bit and she wandlessly locked all the doors and windows while pretending to lock the front door with her keys. They then took her black '97 Honda Civic EX to Forks High School.

The school wasn't particularly impressive, but then what school would be after one had attended Hogwarts? The school took up two whole lots. There were two large brick buildings connected by a small one that was centered between them.

To the left and right of the small building were courtyards. The student parking lot was outside one of the large buildings and outside of the other was the parking lot for teachers and staff. All things considered it was a very typical muggle school.

"You look disappointed Dragon." Clarice said, as they walked to the front doors of the school. "I suppose anything would be after attending Hogwarts though."

"I just hope I can make some friends." Draco remarked.

They entered the school and he followed her to the main office all the while casting wandless and nonverbal cleaning charms. It was a typical muggle school indeed. There was dust and graffiti everywhere you looked. The place seemed well lit on the surface, but Draco knew he'd most likely see some faulty bulbs and broken switches during his time as a student.

"The equipment and supplies seem relatively new at least." He commented. "And they seem to have the issue of heating and cooling the place under control."

"Yes, but remember that this is a public school so it's likely you'll end up in at least one classroom where the heater or air conditioner's broken." She said.

"Like I said, I'm doing this in hopes of making some friends." He supplied. "That and the fact you'll spank me if all I do is laze about the house all day."

"You'd better believe it angel." She affirmed seriously. "But I do hope you'll enjoy your time as a student here."

"I'll try." He said, as they entered the main office.

Clarice handed a folder with some documents to one of the ladies behind the front desk and spoke to her for a few minutes. Draco had a look around in the meantime.

The main office was a long spanning room with a front desk behind which were three different women's work stations, four mini offices at the back with windows behind them whom's blinds were down, and file cabinets - water fountains - and potted plants scattered about.

Doors branching off to the Drawing Room, the Principal's Office, the Vice Principal's Office, and the School Counselor's Office were also scattered about. In one corner was a sitting area where Draco headed when it became apparent his godmother would be chatting for a while yet. He ended up falling asleep.

Clarice woke him some time later and they had a brief talk with the Principal about his enrollment in the school before he was led away by one of the ladies behind the front desk to a classroom where he would take his placement exam. After it was done and over with she gave him a tour of the school and brought him back to the main office.

"So how'd it go?" Clarice asked, putting down the magazine she'd been reading.

"It was okay." He replied. "I'm starved though."

"Let me find out when we can expect your test results and class schedule and we can get something to eat on the way home." She said getting up.

"Sounds good." He supplied, and sat down to wait for her.

Clarice came back over with word that they could expect Draco's test results, class schedule, and a school library card for him to arrive in three days time. A little over ten minutes later they were seated in a diner looking over some lunch menus. A waitress with a clearly forced neutral expression on her face and a miserable bounce to her step came over to take their orders.

"Hello, I'm Leah Clearwater and I'll be your waitress today. Shall I take your order or are you still undecided?" She spoke in a clearly forced cheerful tone which reminded Draco of Pansy and Daphne when they were being moody.

"Hello Leah, I didn't know you'd taken a job here." Clarice said looking over at the girl with a delighted smile in her voice. "How are things at the Reservation?"

"Hello Miss Monet Ray. I took a part-time job here mostly to get away from Sam, but I also wanted some time away from the guys in general. The pay's not half bad and I figured this would be more productive than imposing on friends all the time." Leah replied. "Anyway, what'll you have?"

"Smart girl, but I'm sure your friends wouldn't mind if you imposed every now and then." Clarice supplied in return. "And hey, if you ever just want to run away for a bit you know my house is always available to you."

"You can make friends with my godson Draco here." She said nodding pointedly at the teen in question, who was still debating over what to order in his head and ignoring the conversation between them.

"Hi Draco. You know if you're too conflicted about what to order I can always give a suggestion." Leah said, looking him over; she had to suppress the urge to rant about his looks - he was cute, pretty, and handsome all rolled into one, with an aristocratic air around him, and in some ways looked almost ethereal.

"Hi Leah." Draco looked away from his menu and greeted her with a breathtaking smile.

"I'm good to go thanks. I'll have a hot wedge with all the traditionals on it and a small order of mozzarella sticks." He said.

"Anything to drink?" She asked, as she jotted down what he'd said.

"Pepsi with lemon if possible." He replied.

"That's perfectly doable." She said. "What about you Miss Monet Ray?"

"A burger with extra pickles and a medium order of cheese fries. As for a drink, I think a large hazelnut coffee with half and half milk will do." Clarice replied.

"Stay put folks. I'll be back with your orders momentarily." Leah said, and bounded away with a far more naturally cheerful bounce to her step than when she'd come over.

"She seems interesting." Draco said, putting their menus back in the little case nailed to the side of the table that contained at least a few dozen copies.

"I'm glad you think so. I hope you two will become great friends." Clarice supplied in return.

"I just hope she's up for a friendship at all. She did take her job here to get away from males." He said. "She might find me just as annoying."

"Something tells me she'll reserve judgment until she's gotten to know you a bit." His godmother remarked. "Her reasons for wanting to get away from Sam and the others run deeper than she's willing to admit."

"I'm back." Leah declared, coming to a halt at the side of their table with two trays in hand.

"Your bill totals thirteen fifty." She informed after setting the trays down.

Clarice paid Leah throwing in a hefty tip while Draco poured ketchup on his mozzarella sticks and cut his wedge into eight pieces. Leah couldn't help laugh at this. Clarice looked at Draco's work curious about what had made the girl laugh and couldn't help but laugh a little herself.

"What? What did I do?" Draco asked looking up at them in confusion.

"Well, it's just that, you did something rather peculiar with your sandwich is all." Leah supplied slowly, trying to word herself as politely as possible.

"It's your upbringing Draco. It's showing." Clarice explained when Draco just tilted his head in confusion after a thorough glance at his food.

"Oh." He looked at his food again and asked innocently. "Is it not normal to see people cut a sandwich into eighths here?"

"I didn't think it was normal for people to cut a sandwich that many times anywhere. Just where did you come from?" Leah pipped in.

"It's the difference in social classes Dragon. The people in this town are more or less all upper middle class so your fine dining habits are going to earn you some stares." Clarice told him, before addressing Leah's question.

"Draco here is from a ridiculously wealthy family. While most prominent in the United Kingdom their influence stretches out to most of the known world." She explained.

"Oh. That must be nice." Leah said, suppressing a giggle as she watched Draco eat a mozzarella stick with a fork instead of just using his fingers. "Where do you come from exactly?"

"I was born in Arles, France and raised primarily in London and Wiltshire, England." He replied.

"I never would've guessed your origins without that bit of information." Leah said. "Now that you mention it though, you do have an accent, but it's very slight. You seem to transition between dialects pretty well."

"I had a lot of training. My parents always stress the fact that mastery of languages is important so not only did I have to learn to speak various languages I had to perfect my understanding and use of their many dialects as well." Draco explained.

"That sounds like it must've been a right pain in the ass." She said.

"It was at first, but I learned to enjoy it." He remarked.

"I'm so glad you two are getting on well. Leah, I think you'd best tend to those young people who just came in. Feel free to come by my house whenever. Whether it's to crash for a while, to ask for some advice on something, or to foster your budding friendship with Draco know that you are welcome." Clarice cut in.

Leah looked over to the diner's front door and saw a small group of girls who looked at best high school freshies. There were two guys with them who looked more like college students than high school ones. She sighed and plastered a cheerful mask onto her face.

"I'll drop by Miss Monet Ray. If this job doesn't kill me first. Some customers aren't as delightful to deal with as yourself and Draco. Bye for now." She said, and offered a genuine smile and an energetic wave before walking away.

Clarice and Draco finished their meals in silence. When they were leaving Draco ended up bumping into someone on the way out. The force of the impact had him down on his bottom quite painfully. He quickly recovered and got to his feet though. He looked up prepared to apologize, but was taken aback by what he saw.

In front of him was a tall young man with impressionable beauty, unnaturally so actually, though Draco thought his fashion sense was lacking and his eyebrows could use waxing. There was something really off about him though and Draco hated that he couldn't quite identify what it was.

"Are you okay?" The man asked.

"Hm? Oh yes, I'm fine." Draco supplied in response.

He made a mental note about the way the stranger's voice seemed to pull him in. That was as unnatural as the man's impressionable beauty and had nothing to do with a commanding presence, as the man seemed to completely lack that.

Suddenly Draco felt a powerful pressure on his head. Something or someone was trying with fervor to break through his Occlumency Shields. Forgetting about the stranger for the time being he took his godmother's hand and pulled her around the man and out of the diner. He was glad the rain had let up since it meant they didn't need to stop to open their umbrellas and could get away from the source trying to get into his mind faster.

"Why the big rush Dragon?" She asked once they were on the road.

"There was something or someone trying to get into my head back there. It was powerful Mumsy and I mean really powerful." He replied.

"I see. Perhaps you should send a letter to Kingsley about it. Inquire about whether anyone or anything powerful enough to manage such a feat has followed you here or resides in the area." She remarked, examining him worriedly. "Are you okay now? Any lingering pain or such?"

"I'm a bit tired." He confessed. "I've got a massive headache, but I can't feel any strain on my shields anymore."

"It's straight to bed for you when we arrive then. We can work on finding out just what it is that caused such a strain to your shields later." She said.

"No arguements here." He assured.

A/N: I'll leave it there for now. This ended up way too long. Anyway I hope you enjoy and please RNR.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

By the time his first day of muggle school arrived Draco couldn't be happier. He'd not been out of the house for nearly a full week. From Monday the 12th to Saturday the 17th he'd been allowed to do nothing other than sleep, read books, watch television or play video games in the living room, or play piano in the music room.

Leah had come by for a visit on Sunday but had received a call from her boss that caused her to cut it short. Apparently someone had fallen ill and Leah had to work an extra shift. Kingsley had sent Draco a bracelet with protective enchantments for the mind and body alike to help him keep whatever or whoever had been trying to get into his mind at bay.

When his godmother informed him she was going out to purchase his school supplies Draco had pleaded to go with her. It took a while but she allowed him to come along in the end.

While leaning on his car in the student parking lot and looking over his schedule though, Draco felt much like a fish in a shark tank. Almost everyone was blatantly staring at him and those who weren't were stealing glances in what they seemed to believe was a discreet way.

"Hey, you're new around here aren't you?" A tan skinned slightly chubby girl with long brown hair and pitch black eyes asked coming up to him.

"What was your first clue?" Draco remarked, as he folded his schedule up.

"You just don't look like you're from around here. I'm Abbie Brigs. I was the new kid last year. It was pretty rough getting around without anyone's help so when I saw you I figured why not spare someone from going through the same thing I did." She replied, hugging the stack of books in her hands and shaking a bit, almost as if she were frightened.

Draco looked her up and down with critical eyes.

Her hair was curly and reached the backs of her knees. She wore a black jumper dress with a white t-shirt underneath, a jacket that matched the jumper dress in color and material, plus some thick white pantyhoes and knee length black boots with no heels.

Her make-up was overdone and she reaked of cheap perfume. She also had thick framed glasses with large round lenses on that reminded him of his once rival Harry Potter. On the whole though she reminded him most of his Slytherin housemate Milicent Bulstrode.

"You should look into getting thinner frames and smaller lenses." He said, holding out his hand decidedly. "I'm Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

"That's French right?" Abbie asked, readjusting her books so she could free a hand up to shake his.

"Spot on. I was born in Arles. I was raised primarily in England though. London and Wiltshire to be precise. Where do you hail from?" He supplied in return, after they'd shaken hands.

"Brooklyn, New York. My parents were killed in a shooting and my grandmother took me in. We moved here to get away from the daily dangers of downtown city living." She explained.

"My deepest sympathies for your loss. If you ever need to talk I'm willing to listen." He said.

"Thanks, I've pretty much gotten over it at this point, but I'll keep that in mind." She said.

"Anyway, what class do you have first?" She asked.

"I have Physics with a Mr. A Berkley." Draco replied.

"Lucky you. I have Creative Writing right next door. Walk with me." She said. "And let me have a look at your schedule. I've got a hunch."

Draco handed over his schedule and followed her into the school. Abbie read over Draco's schedule making comparisons with her own in her head and led him to his classroom.

"Just one more thing and...done!" She declared, and handed him back his schedule. "Just follow my notes and you should have no problem getting around. I'll see you for lunch. We have afternoon classes together."

"Okay...I guess I'll see you later then." He said, glancing down at his schedule which was now ridden with highlighter marks and penned notes.

"Good luck in your morning classes. Catch ya later." She said, than walked into her classroom.

He looked into his own classroom and noticed some of the students who'd already arrived were staring at him. Some curiously, others warily. A few were clearly envious and hated him already.

'You'd think they've never seen a new kid before.' He thought, as he made his way in and took a seat up front.

The professor was not at his desk and there was nothing on the board so Draco took out a book and started reading determined to ignore his classmates. It wasn't until someone claimed the seat next to him that he had to stop reading.

"I'm Bella Swan. I know you're new and all, but you're sitting in my boyfriend's seat."

Draco looked over with contempt to find a very average looking girl with brown eyes and long hair that was much the same color looking back at him expectantly. He shrugged and went back to his book. A cold hand grabbed his shoulder and turned him to face someone.

Draco shut his book loudly, looked up, and came face to face with the bloke he'd bumped into on the way out of the diner.

"You'd best move your hand and find somewhere else to sit. I'm not moving." He supplied determinedly.

"But this is where I always sit." The bloke remarked, not removing his hand.

"Not my problem. I got here first, I'm not moving." Draco said, then grabbed the hand on his shoulder and forced it off with no apparent effort, which seemed to surprise the other male.

"Edward I like this spot, do something about him." The girl whined.

"As I thought, this isn't your assigned seat meaning first come first serve. Take your little pet and get out of my sight." Draco remarked, glaring at them both.

Rather than take Bella and move elsewhere Edward just grabbed a chair and slid Bella's chair over with her still in it so he could sit between her and Draco.

"Problem solved." He declared and turned his attention to Draco. "Allow me to formally introduce myself. I'm Edward Cullen and you are?"

Draco just looked at him with a raised eyebrow, eyes clearly asking if Edward was serious. He proceeded to ignore the guy, but when Edward wouldn't stop staring at him after five minutes he heaved a sigh of defeat and offered with a glare. "If you must know I'm Draco Malfoy and I have absolutely no interest in getting to know you so leave me alone."

"Oh, but that would be counter productive Draco. I'm quite interested in getting to know you. In fact I'd go as far as saying I have to know you." Edward remarked silkily.

"Well, that's about it for me. I'm out. You freaks can have the table." Draco promptly gathered his things, got up, grabbed the chair, and moved to the back of the room.

"Smooth Edward real smooth." Bella whispered.

"It's not my fault he's difficult." Edward remarked, his head making contact with the table.

"He didn't seem taken with you at all." She noted. "Are you sure Alice's vision was correct? I mean for all we know you could've broken up with me for nothing."

"She's never been wrong about this sort of thing before. Even some of the Volturi's recruits have received letters from Alice detailing visions she'd had of their true mate's approach. Besides, you know we were having problems for months before Alice had her vision of my true mate coming to town. We would have broken up soon enough Bella. You might want to stop referring to me as your boyfriend." He said.

"Yeah well, you seemed pretty taken with me, so forgive me if I don't have faith that this is right." She said. "Anyway, is there anything about him that you feel that you didn't feel about me?"

"I can't read his mind, but it's different from you. You were naturally blocking me. With him it feels more like there's an active attempt. It doesn't feel like his own doing more like the work of an external force actually." Edward replied.

"Also, where I was initially nauseated by your scent, his makes me feel drunk. It's like I can't get enough of it. I don't want to bite him, but I do want to turn him. I think that pretty much says it all. Carlisle told me once that if my true mate wasn't one of our kind, the only human I wouldn't be able to hurt is the one destined to be my one true mate." He added.

'His rejection feels like a physical blow.' He thought to himself, unwilling to confess this last bit to Bella.

"What's he smell like?" She asked.

"I can't really explain it, but it's really pleasant. Like all the things I like rolled into one, but without any of those things overpowering the next one in the bundle." He replied.

Bella was about to ask him something else, but the professor walked in. The man took attendance and when he was done he called Draco up to the front of the classroom to tell them a little about himself since he himself was curious about the boy.

"There's not much to tell really. My name's Draco Malfoy and I came to Forks to live with my godmother for a while." The silver-blond supplied, and returned to his seat leaving Mr. Berkley and most of his classmates alike feeling disappointed.

No-one was more disappointed than Edward who was really hoping to learn more about Draco.

A/N: This one took me a while longer than expected to finish, but I did it. Hope you enjoy. Please RNR, thanks in advance!


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

Draco spent the remainder of his Physics class taking notes and ignoring the fact that Edward kept turning his head to the back of the room to stare at him. He sincerely hoped the bloke would not be in any of his other classes. Thankfully for his second class an Advanced Calculus course at least he got his wish.

Unfortunately that didn't stop the irritation that had taken him thanks to Edward's fascination with him. It was clearly not his day. He had sat down in the front of the room near a window he could stare out if he got bored with the course material, but also in perfect view of the chalkboard and within good earshot of the professor.

This should have made his experience during the class a relatively nice one, but it was ruined by his male classmate seated in the back of the room on the opposite side. The bloke didn't talk to him which was a good thing perhaps, but he was even worse than Edward when it came to staring and took full advantage of the perfect view of Draco's profile available to him from his seat.

Draco paid careful attention during attendance and learned his name was Jasper Hale. He committed this to memory intent on asking Abbie for information on both him and Edward when they met up for lunch. He learned throughout the practical part of the lesson that Jasper was rather good at the muggle math course as he had gone up to solve three problems when the professor asked for volunteers and made no mistakes.

At one point Draco had gone up to solve one of the problems himself. Given that he had taken Arithmancy for two years at Hogwarts, a much superior course by comparison, Calculus proved to pose no difficulty for him at all. Thus Draco ended up solving an additional four problems and on his way back to his seat many of his muggle classmates looked at him in awe.

"Dude, that was amazing. Who would've guessed a newbie could be that good at this right from the get-go? And you're even starting roughly halfway through the school year." The bloke in the seat next to Draco spoke up as he sat down with a clear resolution to break the ice.

"Think you could tutor me sometime? I took this class because it looks good for kids when colleges run their background checks and see it on their transcripts, but I've barely been doing well enough to get "Performs Satisfactorily" on my progress reports."

"I could try. What's your name?" Draco remarked, deciding to take the chance to possibly start up another friendship.

"I'm Mike. Mike Newton." The bloke replied, fidgeted for a while, then spoke again. "I don't mean to sound mean but...your name, it means Dragon right?"

"Yes, it also means snake and is a reference to several historical figures. The name brings with it a long history, but the truth is no such complicated thought as you'd think went into choosing it. It was quite the opposite really. My mother comes from a family where everyone except for she herself was named after a constellation. She resurrected the tradition when she had me." Draco replied.

"Oh, that's kind of cool I think. I mean it's sort of like the family will never die since stars are infinite. As long as reproduction continued the line would be around forever." Mike said. "But why was your mother the exception?"

"My mother was the only person in her entire family born without their signature black hair. They named her Narcissa instead, after the Narcissus flower." Draco explained.

"I see. Your mother must have had a rough time growing up as a member of such a family, being different and all I mean." Mike said.

"No actually. My mother grew up as the favorite among the children in her family. Her older sisters were reportedly quite a handful and her cousins weren't much better." Draco supplied in return.

"That's always a good place to be in a family with multiple children." Mike admonished. "What about you then? Got any siblings?"

"I'm an only child." Draco replied. "And I'm probably spoiled like you can't imagine. Though spoiling me was really just my parents way of canceling out their strictness."

"Were you some kind of military kid or something like that?" Mike asked.

"I was just born into a high class family. The kind full of aristocrats and unrealistic expectations. Not a fun environment, but you learn to get used to it." Draco replied.

"So you really are super rich then? It's not just a rumor?" Mike inquired giving him a once over.

"Well yeah. I tried not to be obvious about being "loaded" as people here would say." Draco replied.

"You failed miserably. Everything you've got on is from a big name designer. It's also evident in the way you walk, like you own the place you tread. Your posture is always perfect and your hair and nails are immaculate." Mike informed him after a short fit of laughter.

"So what's your story then?" Draco asked, hoping for a change in subject.

"My parents run a sporting goods store in town. I'm an only child, but I lived in the same house as six of my cousins back in Sacramento, California. My parents and I moved here when I was ten. I used to miss Sacramento a lot, but I've grown fond of Forks over the years I suppose." Mike replied.

"You doing anything after school? I could tutor you for an hour or two if you're not." Draco supplied in return while the bell rang.

"That'd be great. I'll meet you in the parking lot." Mike grinned like an idiot as he answered.

"Let me see your schedule for a moment." He said.

Draco handed over his schedule. Mike looked it over and frowned.

"I have no other classes with you, but we have the same lunch period. I'd invite you to have lunch with me and my friends, but the table's full." Mike said, as he packed his things into his backpack.

"That's fine. There's someone I'm meeting up with then anyway." Draco remarked.

"It was nice meeting you Mike. I'll see you later." He added, securing his backpack.

"Later Draco." Mike said, and waved when they parted ways in the hall.

Jasper leaned against some lockers grinning inwardly. Draco had befriended Mike which meant he'd eventually befriend Bella which meant he'd eventually have no choice but to get to know Edward. In a hallway on the other side of the building Edward was smirking knowingly after reading Jasper's mind.

After an abysmally boring U.S History class and an even more dull French class Draco had his last class before Lunch Hour, Creative Writing. To his misfortune he had this class with Edward and Bella. Worse-er still Draco had arrived late meaning most of the seats were taken. Bella had sat with one of her girl friends leaving her usual spot next to Edward empty.

Aside from a seat at the very back of the room next to a student as fat and menacing looking as Crabbe and Goyle put together that was blowing snot bubbles it was his only option so Draco sighed mentally and headed over. He slid the chair as far away from Edward as it could possibly get and directed his attention to the professor Mr. Harvard.

"Alright, now that everyone is here we can begin. Today I would like for you all to write a short story for me. As this is a Creative Writing class I will place no limits on content so make sure to let your imaginations run wild. Your story should not exceed three front and back pages or six front-only pages." The middle aged man said to them before turning to write said assignment on the board for anyone who might not have heard him due to not paying attention.

"What are you writing about?" Edward asked Draco, about fifteen minutes into their writing time.

"Nothing in particular. It's a story about a group of students at a boarding school for the magically inclined who meet the ghost of a former student and try to solve the mystery of her murder which leads them to a violent showdown with the school's secretly evil headmaster and his brainwashed army of magical creatures." Draco replied, not looking up from his work.

"It sounds exciting. I'm sure you'll get an A." Edward said, unconsciously scribbling down a story he'd never be able to recall if someone asked about it unless he got his hands on it and read it, what with him being too busy falling into an increasing habit of staring at the silver-blond.

'Silver-blond...how does one attain such a hair color?' He wondered, gazing on with adoration. 'It looks so soft.'

"Why do you insist on staring at me Cullen? I'm just a normal teenage boy, like you." Draco cut through his thoughts bringing him back to reality, finally looking away from his work to give him a bored glare.

"On the contrary you are extraordinary." Edward dribbled out. "You make my heart sing Draco."

"I will make a note of never coming late to any class I happen to have with you. This is the second time in one day you've said something that creeps me out." Draco said.

"I'm sorry, but I can't help it. Around you I don't feel like myself." Edward remarked. "You drive me crazy Draco."

"All the more reason for us to stay away from each other." Draco said.

"Is your disinterest the result of my being male Draco? Why won't you give me a chance?" Edward inquired a few minutes later.

Draco didn't answer him. He gathered his things and moved to the empty seat in the back of the room instead. Edward promptly asked to use the restroom and bolted like a jet from the room.

'I'm such an idiot. Why can't I just be normal around him?' He thought as he looked at himself in the mirror after splashing some water onto his face.

He just stayed in there for a long time, pacing and trying to calm down rather than take all his frustration at not being able to keep Draco's attention and interest for more than a few minutes out on everything around him. Eventually Jasper came looking for him.

"Bella said you'd be in here. Things aren't going too well with Draco huh?"

"I'm starting to believe Alice's vision was wrong. I mean he's not interested in me in the slightest. I'm not asking for a reaction like Bella's but some confirmation that I draw him in just as strongly as he draws me in would be really great right about now."

"Alice told me to remind you that you can't force these things. You need to let love run its course. Draco will notice you when the time is right for him and not a moment sooner. Besides, there's still what Carlisle said to consider. For now just try and act normal. What will be will be."

"That's just it Jasper. Around Draco I can't seem to control myself. He makes me feel so unlike myself."

"We can talk about how to fix that little issue with the rest of the family at home later alright?" Jasper grabbed Edward's shoulders and stopped him from continuing his pacing.

"For now why don't you go into the woods behind the school and hunt for a while? That'll take your mind off things for a bit. We still have a half hour left before Lunch is over." He advised, attempting to forcefully calm Edward with his gift of pathokinesis, but knowing from the look on Edward's face that he wasn't succeeding.

"I'm just going to go and call Carlisle so he can give the school permission for me to sign myself out and go home. I've had enough for one day." Edward said miserably, causing Jasper to sigh heavily in defeat.

"Fair enough. I'll walk you to the main office." He remarked.

A/N: Another chapter down. I hope you all enjoy it. Please read and review and I'll have the next chapter out as soon as possible.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

Draco fished a box lunch from his backpack after joining Abbie at the table she was sitting at. There was room for six, but with him only four people occupied the table.

"Glad you could make it Draco." Abbie declared. "Now, before any of us inquire about that box lunch of yours, lets get the introductions out of the way shall we?"

"Very well." He supplied.

"I'm Draco Malfoy and you two are?" He added, giving each of Abbie's friends a once over.

"I'm Davis Haze. Typical bookworm and anime fan." Abbie's male companion answered first, his eyes pinned to Draco's box lunch.

"Is that a genuine box lunch?" He asked, finally making eye contact with Draco himself.

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance Davis." Draco said, nodding affirmatively at the shaggy raven haired, hazel eyed, cream color skinned, teen, in black jeans, a white t-shirt, and a forest green jacket.

"It's genuine. I made it myself." He informed, tweaking the truth a bit of course since the prep work for the box lunch had been done by one of his family's house elves.

"That's cool." Davis said, glaring down at his tray full of items from the free lunch menu. "A smart move bringing your own lunch man. The stuff they serve here seems more fitting for a stray cat."

Draco couldn't disagree with that. Davis's food tray consisted of a poorly made grilled cheese sandwich, an apple that was going bad, a small helping of some not too appetizing mashed potatoes, an equally unappetizing helping of peas, a bag of Utz Potato Chips, and a canned Coca-Cola.

"Oh don't hate Davis, we all know the majority of the budget went to the sports and performing arts department of the school." Abbie's female friend broke in.

"Nice to meet you Draco, I'm Savannah Harris." She added, smiling at Draco. "I'll bet all the girls back home were stalking you."

"No comment." He remarked, holding out his hand for the girl with pale white skin, long dirty blond hair and baby blue eyes to shake.

"Nice outfit." He added, as she shook it, giving his compliment to her choice of attire.

Savannah wore a black and white checkered delicate dress with beautiful trim work and enough frills to make her look cute without making her look like a small child, as well as sky blue pantyhoes and black high-heeled shoes.

"Thanks. I try." She said.

"With effort like that, you'll make someone very happy in the future." He supplied in return.

"Hey Abbie, I have something I'd like to ask you." Rounding on the Brooklyn girl, he cut to the chase. "What can you tell me about Edward Cullen and Jasper Hale?"

Abbie almost choked on the bite of cheeseburger she was swallowing. After downing a fair amount of water from the bottle she had received with her free lunch in favor of the canned soda Davis had opted for, she cleared her throat and answered him. "I figured it'd only be a matter of time before you asked about one of them."

"Why's that?" He asked.

"Well, Edward and Jasper are two out of a group of students here who are foster children of Mr. Carlisle Cullen a reputable doctor from the local hospital here and his wife Esme. There's them, Alice, Emmet, and Jasper's sister Rosalie. They're not really social people so to speak and they can be pretty weird sometimes. Most people who come here end up meeting at least one of them and asking around. Since no-one has really been brave enough to approach them personally they've remained something of a mystery to the rest of us." She explained.

"What about that girl Bella Swan? Edward's girlfriend I believe." Draco remarked.

"Those two got together in Freshman year back when Bella had just moved back to Forks. You see her parents divorced years ago and Bella was living with her mother for a long time. Anyway, her mother remarried and Bella couldn't stand the guy which caused a rift with her mother and resulted in her being sent to live back here with her father. Her old man's the chief of police here Charlie Swan." Savannah was the one who answered him.

"Interesting." Draco said, monotonously, filing the information away in his mind for when, if ever, it might prove useful, and proceeded to eat the contents of his box lunch at last.

"Not really. I find it more interesting that none of the Cullens ever eat any of their lunch. I mean I know the food's awful, but they never eat a single item. Ever." Davis said.

"They probably just have way too high standards. I mean have you seen the cars they drive? And then there's the way Rosalie dresses. Talk about flaunting your money." Savannah admonished.

"You know, Edward tried to befriend me in Physics class today and again in Creative Writing. I could let him. Get in with his crowd even. Call it research." Draco said.

"You'd really do that?" Abbie asked.

"Why not? I'm not a Slytherin for nothing you know." He remarked.

"Slytherin?" Davis and Savannah inquired together.

"Oh, that. Just something to do with my old school." Draco replied.

"You see, back home I attended a boarding school in Scotland. During their first year there students are given a test to determine where they'll be living at the school. Different areas of the school are designated as houses. There are four of them. Each one named after one of the school's founders. I ended up in Slytherin House. Not surprising really given the founder in question is one of my ancestors. Anyway, Slytherins are known for being cunning, ambitious, and devious with a strong sense of self preservation, strong respect for forgone traditions, and intense pride. So you could say this kind of thing is sort of my calling." He explained.

"What are the other houses and what are their students known for?" Davis asked, highly intrigued.

"Well, aside from Slytherin House there's Gryffindor House, Ravenclaw House, and Hufflepuff House. Gryffindors are the brave heroic type people who rush in head first instead of planning ahead. Over the centuries they've also developed a tendency for hypocrisy. The headmaster during the time I attended the school was a Gryffindor and he was quite the hypocrite." Draco replied, pausing to think for a while about how best to describe students of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.

"Ravenclaws are a lot like you Davis. Bookworms who pursue knowledge day in and day out. Some of them are pretty dependable when you need them, but not all of them. Hufflepuffs are known to be loyal and hardworking, but when it really comes down to it the majority of them are just a bunch of cowards. Admittedly they face a lot of antagonism from the other houses for it. Of course no-one has it worse since the '50s than my own house." He concluded.

"And just why is that?" Abbie asked.

"Well Slytherins have always had a reputation for being twisted people what with the belief that we practice dark rituals and other such things, but in the '50s more and more falsehoods were spread and wouldn't you know it by the '60s students from all houses were turning up dead and the evidence kept pointing toward Slytherin House." Draco replied.

"Was someone guilty or were you all being framed?" She asked.

"Someone was guilty, yes. Turns out we had a mass murderer in our midst who not only murdered a student directly, but left traps behind with which he killed others after graduating. That same man formed a gang of sorts out of Slytherin House students and their parents which he used to keep wreaking havoc at the school. He was killed last year though and most of his associates were convicted. The rest don't really seem to know how to function without their leader so it's unlikely the gang will be reformed." He answered.

"That's some story." Savannah said, sounding rather disbelieving.

"It's the truth. My grandfather supported the gang and my father worked for him willingly for some time as well. When my father started to realize the error of his ways he started screwing up and I was recruited as punishment for his failure. My first mission was to kill the school's headmaster." Draco informed.

"That's brutal." Davis declared, turning a little green. "You...you didn't do it did you?"

"No, but it wasn't for lack of trying. I black mailed a fellow student to do it for me, but she didn't have the guts to go through with it anymore than I did. I tried using poison, but that turned ugly when the mead I'd poisoned got into the hands of a Gryffindor. Thankfully it was resolved. I received a letter near the end of the school year informing me that the madman had turned my home into his headquarters and that if I didn't kill the headmaster he would kill my parents." Draco conveyed the tale, but stopped suddenly.

"What happened next?" Abbie pressed.

"The old man knew I was coming for him. He offered me protection, offered me a way to sneak my parents to safety in exchange for going back and spying for him. His fate was sealed though. I had let a group of adults from the madman's gang into the school and they cornered us. My aunt Bellatrix was with them. She urged me to kill the man, talked about how I'd be rewarded nicely, but I couldn't do it. In the end it was my godfather who killed him. I learned some time later that they had planned that. They both knew I wouldn't be able to do it in the end." He explained, and packed away what remained of his box lunch, his appetite completely gone now.

"How did the madman react to your failure?" Savannah asked.

"He didn't care much. The security at my home made it an impenetrable headquarters and even if it wasn't by my hand he got what he wanted. My parents and I were held captive in our own home for some time, but I offered to become a spy for him playing the offer from his enemy for all it was worth. I became a double agent just not for him. Tricky work that was I'll tell you. The headmaster's side wasn't exactly trusting and I was antagonized by many of their recruits my own age for months, but in the end the madman met his maker." Draco replied.

"So did you ever kill anyone while you were unwillingly part of that gang? Anyone at all?" Davis asked.

"I killed a fair number of people. Enough for a good chunk of life sentences in prison, but they were all in self defense. After my first mission I was really just forced to watch as the madman and his senior most followers tortured captives. I used to sneak food, water, and pain killers down into the dungeons for them. Thankfully the madman was eliminated before any of them died and most of them are already living their normal lives again. The more damaged ones are going through therapy." Draco answered.

"You've lived a hell of a traumatic last few years huh?" Abbie spoke up after a few minutes of silence.

"Quite. That's why I came to live with my godmother." He said.

"I hope your retreat to Forks is everything you need it to be." Abbie said.

"Me too." Davis said.

"Just don't ever pull a gun or any knife that isn't a butter knife out around me and we'll be fine." Savannah supplied.

"Glad to know my tale hasn't scared you all away." Draco remarked.

"I'll bet you had a tough guy image back at that boarding school of yours, but you're really just a big softie inside." Savannah said.

"I was known as the Prince of Slytherin." He supplied in return.

"Aww. Who was your princess?" Abbie broke in.

As Draco told Abbie, Davis, and Savannah more about Hogwarts across the cafeteria Bella was reacquainting herself with her old friends Mike, Jessica, Ben, Angela, and Austin. Meanwhile at the Cullen table, Alice, Emmet, and Rosalie were trying to figure out what was keeping them from hearing a word Draco and his friends were saying.

In a corner of the cafeteria a figure hidden under a certain article of invisibility watched them discuss the possibilities in amused knowing silence.

'Oh, I'm glad he's found some acceptance here.' They thought, diverting their attention to Draco for just a moment, when the bell rang.

'Time to go then. I'll be seeing you face to face again soon Draco. With any luck you'll be back to one hundred percent by then.' With this thought and a wordless, wandless, Finite Incantatem the figure dis-apparated.

A/N: Another chapter for your reading pleasure. I tried not to be obvious about the figure watching over Draco invisibly, but I'm sure only the slowest person out there wouldn't be able to get it. Please RNR and thank you for the continued support.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

Draco walked with Abbie, Davis, and Savannah to one of the school's music rooms. A group of students with wind instruments had gathered in a back corner of the room. A group of girls with different types of guitars was gathered in the other back corner of the room. In the front of the room one corner was taken up by a black baby grand Steinway piano while the other was taken up by an eight piece drum kit.

Davis went for the drum kit while Draco went for the piano. Abbie and Savannah both retrieved violins from the equipment room off the music room and sat down in the middle of the room with the rest of the students playing instruments retrieved from the equipment room. Draco fingered the piano's keys while looking around curiously.

He wondered how the professor would hold a productive music class with such a variety of instruments going around, nearly twenty students, and only forty-five minutes to teach. He didn't have to wonder for long. The professor, a nicely aged woman who was likely in her early fifties, entered the room, and started taking attendance just two minutes into his contemplation.

"I see we have a new student with us." She said cheerily, turning her attention to Draco with invitingly smiling, wisdom filled eyes.

"One who has seemingly found his calling ages sooner than the rest of you thankfully." A chorus of groans followed her words and Draco looked down in embarrassment hoping she would not make blending in harder for him by making further example out of him.

"I trust you have some experience Mr. Malfoy," She said, and he turned his attention to her and nodded affirmatively informing her that he had been playing for as long as he could remember. "Have you been taught to play any particular style or are you quite versatile?"

"I can play any style though I prefer classical." He said.

"I see. Then please play us a medly of pieces. Feature as many styles as you can. The medly should not exceed ten minutes." She said.

Draco sighed, but did some hand stretches before proceeding to abide her request. He incorporated twelve songs each in a specific style into a ten minute medly. By the time he had finished everyone else in the room was staring in awe, clapping, or both. Abbie and Savannah had gotten up and appeared to be clapping the loudest if their enthusiasm was anything to go by.

"That was excellent Mr. Malfoy. Tell me, have you ever ventured composing pieces?" The professor inputted, becoming scarily happy when he informed her that he had indeed ventured composing.

"If you have no objections, I would like for you to select one of the pieces you wrote to play for the class tomorrow. Something that can be played through to the end in the same time frame you were given for the medly today would be most ideal, but you may have an extra five minutes if necessary." She said.

"Very well Professor." He said, breathing a sigh of relief as her attention shifted from him to Davis.

Davis was instructed to play a five minute drum solo he had been practicing and he did so with a hint of nervousness for the first half or so breathing a sigh of relief when he managed to complete it without mistakes.

"Your performance was splendid Mr. Haze. You really ought to have more confidence in your ability as a drummer." The professor commented.

"Thank you ma'am. I'll try." Davis remarked.

"You really do play very well Davis." Draco said, as Davis and him sat down on the floor against the wall between their selected instruments and the professor instructed Abbie and Savannah to play something neither of them had caught on their violins. "Have you ever thought about playing for a band?"

"I've played support drummer for a few bands before to make some easy money since they pay well, but I'm not interested in the fame that being in a band full-time could bring. I actually chose the drums because it seemed like a fun and easy instrument to play, and it eventually escalated into a hobby I can utilize for some money." Davis explained.

"That's a shame. There's a band out there just waiting for you to join them, I'm sure." Draco said, then shrugged. "Whatever tempts your favor I suppose."

"Hm." Davis said nodding. "Now what about you, if you got the right people on board you could be one of those revolutionary composers like Chopin and Beethoven."

"I don't know. Probably." Draco said. "Although I have to say I'm surprised you know who Chopin is. He usually plays second fiddle to Mozart."

"Yeah, I know most people would've mentioned Mozart over Chopin, but I myself am more for Chopin. His pieces had more depth and emotion in my honest opinion. I also quite like Mendelssohn." Davis remarked.

"You know enough of Chopin to use him in conversation over Mozart and you know of Mendelssohn. I think I had you pegged when I compared Ravenclaws to you." Draco rebuttled.

It wasn't much longer before the music class ended and Draco was following Abbie, Davis, and Savannah to the gymnasium. The professor this time was a good looking man who at worst was pushing thirty-five. Most of the girls spent half the time the man was taking attendance oggling him and giggling madly.

While the rest of his classmates did some warm-up exercises the professor gave Draco a combination lock and a locker number and asked a few general health questions. It wasn't long before Draco had changed into a white shirt with long sleeves and black sweat pants and put into a team with his friends and a few others for a basketball game.

Their team ended up losing by three points, but Draco couldn't care less. He had been sensing something abnormal since the middle of the game and wanted nothing more than to track it down and investigate it. The terrible feeling in his gut did not help. If he was sensing what he thought he was, the muggle and wizarding worlds were both in for a lot of trouble and Draco wasn't yet recovered enough to do much about it.

A/N: Short chapter I know, but I wanted to give you all something. I have less and less time for writing lately due to college obligations but I will try to have a chapter out each month. Anyway bye for now and sorry for the way the chapter ended since I know many of you will comment about its cliffhanger-esque-ness in your reviews. As always I'd like to take a moment to thank you all for your continued support. Without it this story would be nothing.

I'd also like to address Rosa-Doan's review.

You said in your review that Draco was kind of out of character. That's probably very much true and perhaps even an understatement. Thing is I'm not trying to keep Draco the same as in canon. For me canon doesn't really reveal the true character of Draco (not to mention a good chunk of others). One has to look well beyond the surface to even begin to understand him when reading the books and watching the films. And then there is everything that Rowling has added to his character through interviews.

I think that with Draco she created a character that she underestimated as much as the fans ended up underestimating him and never completely finished developing him. Also a vast majority of the canon Harry Potter universe is very much geared towards a black and white world where people are either good or evil. Not even Severus Snape the best example of a grey character was truly given the character development to remove that gear.

And the series is very Gryffindor biased too. I mean think about it. How much did we learn about Luna (Ravenclaw), Cedric (Hufflepuff), all of the Slytherins in the golden trio's year, etc etc. No-one in the series who wasn't a Gryffindor except for Voldemort himself got proper character development. If Rowling hadn't squeezed her story into only seven books or had simply written longer books that would perhaps not be the case, but alas it is.

I hope you can enjoy this story despite Draco taking a consistent out of character turn throughout. I myself consider what I've done to his character so far rather plausible as it's highly unlikely Draco goes home to his parents and plays the role of bully.

Additionally while the golden trio perceived Crabbe and Goyle as nothing but Draco's bodyguards/goons he seemed genuinely distressed when he realized that Crabbe had died. I think that's a good implication that Draco is very much human behind the scenes and does have friends in Slytherin House.

Moving right along let me address another thing you brought up. You said you didn't think it was a good thing for me to let Draco tell everything about Hogwarts the way he did. The thing is he didn't talk about Hogwarts in major detail. He spoke about the basic structure of the school. He then gave/told a fabricated watered-down version of his experiences/knowledge in/of the war.

I'm not sure why you found it kind of funny but I think I have an idea. Is it because of the fact that he was talking to three normal everyday teenagers?

If so let me point out to you a bit of information you might not know. Most teenagers rarely use their brain for serious thought, but they have the capacity to. There's always that one group of teenagers in a high school not following the norm.

They tend to be rather diverse people brought together by a common interest not popular with the majority of their peers, or by a slew of unfortunate circumstances like anime/manga or bullying/fear of the more popular kids. Sometimes both.

Those are the ones who've matured enough to handle the types of topics Draco was featuring in his story about his past. They're also the group of teens most likely to stay friends well into their senior citizen years instead of losing touch completely by age thirty.

Anyway. I'll repeat that I hope you can enjoy the story despite the faults you might find in Draco's out of character-ness. I'm ecstatic that you took the time to review and when I first saw the review it put a smile on my face for the first time that day so thank you for leaving one!


End file.
